After the practice session, we were supposed to have our bikes impounded by 5:00, but someone had the great idea of taking them all up and parking them in the main street of Harrow for a pic. I'd had (as had many others), a little too much bible juice, so my bike didn't get there, but plenty did!
After this, it was back to camp to make ourselves beautiful for the VERi AGM and annual Harrow Dinner. We all opted for a relatively early night to make sure we were in tip-top form for the main event tomorrow.
A bit (lot) of rain fell overnight, so we woke to a cold and foggy morning. The bikes in the park ferme looked as cold as we felt! The usual riders briefing was had, warnings were given and advise espoused before the first bikes were given their order to go. as usual, Team AMTRA lined up and Pat took off, never to be seen again. Darren and I had arranged to meet up the other guys in our group, (Mark and Ashley from Team F.B.I and Geoff the Independent Member from Bendigo) so off we went and stuck together for the whole day.
The course started with some tight, sandy single track (all on private property), which was a great way to get warmed up. We then had a continually changing array of open hilly paddocks with steep up and downs (all wet and slippery), lots of boggy creek crossings and generally wet areas. The terrain hadn't seen much rain for a while, and it was now quite water-logged. We dodged trees, rocks, dead animals, bogs slippery logs and all manner of other obstacles. Some sections were grippy and fast, others were treacherously slippery and not so fast, but all in all a good fun ride. The main loop was 90ks long, and as I always say, 90ks on one of these old girls feels a lot more than a modern bike, so after one loop, we were quite happy to call it a day.
Gold medals were awarded to anyone who completed a full loop and there were plenty that didn't!
The event attracted about 160 riders, with various marques being represented. XRs have surpassed ITs as the most common bike. I'm happy to say that the widow-maker performed faultlessly all day and it was great to spend the day riding with Daz. I have no idea how Pat went cos we didn't see him till later in the afternoon! No doubt, more footage and pics will appear in the coming days.
Harrow 2016, done and (not so) dusted!
